Escaped inmate back in custody

An inmate who escaped while in the custody of a Milwaukee County Corrections Officer at Columbia St. Mary's Hospital late Wednesday morning has been found.

Keyon Westlan, 30, was found in the ceiling of the medical commons building and cancer center across the street from the main hospital and was taken back into custody.

The inmate was being taken to a medical appointment at Columbia St. Mary's Hospital at 2311 N. Prospect Ave. when he escaped from custody Wednesday.

A Sheriff's Office representative said Westlan was not handcuffed at the time in order to use the restroom. He then assaulted the correctional officer and ran.

WISN 12 News reporter Kent Wainscott spoke with a hospital employee who saw the escape as it was happening.

"I was going into the driveway to pick up a patient. This guy in a hospital gown and pants, he was running out of the hospital. I nearly hit the guy. I looked. I was on the phone with our dispatcher. I said, 'You've got an escaped patient or something.' I saw the deputy chasing him, so we high-tailed it in the driveway. They chased him over to the cancer center They got him in a bathroom. He was up in one of the ceiling tiles," witness Chuck Leitermann said.

Westlan had crawled into a space above ceiling tiles from a bathroom and then hid in an opening between walls.

He was being held on drug charges.

The search lasted nearly five hours. The hospital remained open throughout the day.

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